Expo West 2019

Michael and I had a great trip to Anaheim for the Natural Products Expo West trade show.  We flew there on Wednesday, and we arrived early enough to have a date at Disneyland!

We got settled into the hotel and then we went over to Disneyland. We got there at about 2pm. The first thing we did was stop at the candy store on Main Street and buy a peanut butter sandwich bar. That was so good! Then we got a Fast Pass and went on the Indiana Jones ride. We didn’t really need the Fast Pass for anything today because the lines were so short. 

After Indiana Jones we went to the Blue Bayou to check in for our reservation and to request a table close to the water. They got us in very quickly. We weren’t right next to the water but we were very close. We both had the ribeye and it was delicious, of course. 

After lunch, we went over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to use our Fast Pass, but yet again it was essentially the same line as the standby line. Next, we went to Pirates of the Caribbean and then the Haunted Mansion. Michael mentioned that we could go on Splash Mountain. I normally hate that ride, but we were already pretty wet from the rain and I knew the kids would love it if I went and we could get a fun picture taken. Thankfully, I didn’t get that wet. The little boys in front of us in our log got soaked though. 

After that we caught the Disneyland Railroad and took that to Tomorrowland. We went on Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, and I beat Michael! 

Then we went to Star Tours. Next, we walked over to Fantasyland, but there was a parade starting so we had a front row seat to that. 

We didn’t watch the whole thing, and we left to go to Peter Pan. Next, we walked over to Frontierland and went to the Shooting Gallery.  Michael loves that place.  

We stopped by the ice cream parlor on the way out.  We walked back to the hotel and we were grateful it was so close to the entrance.  Thanks for the great date, Michael!

We worked at the booth on Thursday and Friday.  The booth turned out great.  It was a new one this year.  

It was fun to watch the Bob's Red Mill band walk by.

I came home Friday night so that I could go to Robotics with Andrew, and Michael stayed for the show on Saturday and came home Saturday evening.  We are both glad to be home!

Emily's 16th Birthday

Emily is 16!  She is such a joy and we all had fun celebrating her birthday this week!

We gave her a "new" (to her) iPhone.  She has been asking for it for a while now.
Here is her reaction:

She had early release on her birthday, which worked out perfectly because Michael and I were able to take her to lunch.

She even got a call from Nathaniel.  That evening, we had cake and presents, then we went to see her high school's production of High School Musical.

Jonathan wanted his picture taken with this pretty actress, who played Sharpay

On Friday, we took her out to dinner at Osaka.

We love you so much, Emily!!!

Wrestling

Andrew's wrestling season is over.  He did a great job for his first year, and we can't wait to see what great things he does next year.

Rain!!

We got so much rain this past week!  It rained all day Thursday, and most of Friday. 

This "lake" isn't supposed to be there--it's actually a greenbelt

This is the greenbelt behind our house

This is the entrance to the wash, and the trail was closed

Thankfully, our pool didn't overflow!

Sledding in Flagstaff

I can’t believe it!  After all these years of talking about taking the kids to Flagstaff to see the snow, we finally did it!  We weren’t even sure until Friday afternoon if the snow park would still have snow after all the rain, but thankfully it did.  We left at 7:45am and got there in three hours, even with our rest area stop.  We put on all of our snow clothes and went to check in at Flagstaff Snow Park.  

Ready for some fun in the snow!

We started out on the orange “bunny” hill with Jonathan and he loved it.  Next, we went on the blue sled run, which was so fun!  

We went to the black run next, but Andrew started feeling sick and so he and Michael went to the picnic tables by the food trucks to get something to drink and rest.  I think it was a combination of him getting overheated in his snow clothes, and also being dehydrated.  After we all finished on the black run, we went over to sit with Michael and Andrew and have a snack.  Thankfully, Andrew started feeling better so we found a spot with some fresh snow so the kids could play around a little bit.  Jonathan wanted to make snow angels and a snowman, and Daniel was so excited to have a snowball fight.  The snow was way too powdery to make a snowman, but they had a great time anyway.  

By this time it was 1pm, and the people who were just there for the morning had to leave so we went sledding some more.  This time we went on the green run, and there was no line at all so we went on it twice.  The second time we wanted to all go down together, but we could only do three at a time. 

After that, we stopped at the orange hill one more time and then found another spot for the kids to play.  Then we headed back to the car to change out of all our snow clothes and head home.  We picked up food on the way home, and we were home by about 5:30pm.  It was a great day, but I am so tired!!!

The aftermath

Emily's Talent Search Awards

The Talent Search Awards was to honor students who took the ACT she took in 6-8^th grade.  Emily was invited to take the ACT in 8th grade.  She got a certificate for each section of the test for which she scored the same or higher than an average 11^th grader, which was all four sections as well as her overall score so she got five certificates!  

Great job, Emily!!

Fireside with President Nelson and President Oaks

I was so wonderful to hear from our Prophet!  He came to speak to us in Phoenix, along with his wife and President Oaks and his wife.  You can see from the pictures that it was a pretty big crowd!  He spoke to us about the blessings we receive from the Abrahamic Covenant and how we should make our homes a place of learning. 

The view from our seats

We are so glad we could attend!